Identification of Organizational & Managerial Problems at the Trade Commission - Essay Example

?Part I: Identification of Organizational & Managerial Problems at the Trade Commission. The case study focuses on the organizational and managerial problems of the entity. First, Mr. Clark’s management skill is defined as abrupt, intuitive, and incremental rather than logic. Management decision was influenced by soft information, including internal and external gossip (Rees & Porter 3). For example, Mr. Clark does not know the best way to delegate some of his authorities and responsibilities. Mr. Clark lacks the time to focus on accomplishing company goals and objectives. Mr. Clark is tied down by his Ph.D. studies. His quality time given to accomplish assigned tasks is reduced. Further, Mr. Clark has trouble prioritizing his job responsibilities. Mr. Clark prioritizes the Economics seminars over his responsibility in the company. He prioritizes making and attending arrangement of the Economists’ Association. Consequently, he cancels meetings with the Consul-General. Mr. Clark should be held accountable for his actions. Delegation does not absolve Mr. Clark of his responsibilities, as superior (Rees & Porter 116). Mr. Clark does not resolve Mr. Allen’s overburdened job responsibilities. One reason for the excess job responsibilities is Mr. Allen’s marriage to a local resident. Mr. Allen’s expertise in the local language gives Mr. Allen an added advantage. Because of Mr. Allen’s mastery of the local language, Mr. Clark assigns Mr. Allen to handle all local enquiries. Consequently, Mr. Allen communicates and enters into agreements with all business contacts. Further, Mr. Allen helps Mr. Briggs craft reports to the Ministry of Commerce, during the first few months of Mr. Briggs arrival in the country. Mr. Clark should be made accountable for the effects of Mr. Allen’s overburdened responsibilities. Mr. Allen’s work overload results to delays and poor quality work outputs. Mr. Allen actually handled Mr. Briggs’ work, a new employee. Mr. Clark’s accountability includes ensuring internal diplomacy is present within his organization (Rees & Porter 23). The morale in the office has been further endangered by various other incidents. First, there was a misapprehension regarding the number of invited visitors to a party held in a luxury hotel celebrating the annual National Day. Many very important persons and businessmen with significant relationships were invited. However, the original list of visitors was reduced from 50 to 30 invited guests. Miscommunication will trigger dissent among peers. Second, Mr. Clark should be made accountable for not involving his assistants in the transfer design of the whole government office (including the Consul-General’s staff) to a modern commercial building. When Mr. Clark was away for a two-week holiday, nobody could follow up important business matters because neither Mr. Allen nor Mr. Briggs knew what kind of wood and carpet colour Mr. Clark preferred. Consequently, the office decoration work was stopped until Mr. Clark returned for work. Third, Mr. Clark should be made accountable for the confusion cropping up regarding the use of the company’s official car. The Commission has a Mercedes Benz, which both Mr. Allen and Mr. Briggs is also entitled to use. However, Mr. Clark likes to ask the driver to wait for him at l0.00 am every day where Mr. Clark resides. This meant that either the Assistant Trade Commissioners also have to wait inside the official car for him or they have to proceed to the Commission by other means of transport. Both Mr. Allen and Mr. Briggs felt that they were refused some of their entitled benefits. Further, Mr. Clark must be accountable for abuse of official time. Mr. Clark wrongly prioritised the Minister’s needs over official needs. When the Minister’s family visited the city, Mr. Clark put aside his work. He spent two days accompanying them shopping around. Occasionally, when Mr. Briggs calculated the balance of the Commission’s account, he found that Mr. Clark had bought meals for his friends and family and debited the Commission’s business account. Mr. Briggs claimed that they could not be business lunches because the bills included half-price set lunches for children. Lastly, Mr. Clark fails in delegating jobs. As well as the Assistant Trade Commissioners being frustrated, the support staff is also dissatisfied with Mr. Clark. As Mr. Clark gives most of his work to other staff members, their workloads increase accordingly. Consequently, they often have to reduce their lunch break hours and work overtime in order to achieve the project deadlines. Additionally, they are uncomfortable because Mr. Clark always likes to check if they have displayed the current posters on the boards and if their filing and information system is effective. They feel hurt because they Mr. Clark does not trust them to deliver quality work output on time. Further, the term managerial gap refers to the variance between the amount of time Mr. Allen spends one’s time as an acting manager and the total amount of time actually spent (Rees & Porter 5). Likewise, the term managerial escalator refers to how specialists, including Mr. Allen, are being symbolically or informally promoted within the organisation. For example, the company’s 10 year accounting veteran can teach the new accounting clerk a better way to record the entity’s business transactions. By training the new employee, Mr. Briggs, the new employee’s trainer, Mr. Allen, is placed in a supervisory or managerial position. The training prods the newly hired employee to respect, obey, and accept the informal managerial position of the accounting specialist. Similarly, the new engineer applicant will show respect and obedience to the company’s current engineering head. The engineering head is not formally installed as a true supervisory or management engineer. In the case study, Mr. Allen is the managerial escalator. Mr. Allen helps because Mr. Briggs does not have the capacity to perform his job in accordance with benchmark company policies. Part II: Recommended Solutions. There are several recommended solutions to address the above problems. First, Mr. Clark should conduct a regular monthly brainstorming sessions. The brainstorming session will bring out the comments, suggestions, criticisms, and complaints of the different parties involved. The brainstorming session will come up with several recommendations. Finally, a decision is made as to which alternative will be chosen. Second, Mr. Clark should delegate most of his jobs to Mr. Allen and Mr. Briggs. In turn, Mr. Allen and Mr. Briggs will delegate their job responsibilities to their own support staffs. The delegation will reduce the work load of Mr. Clark to more manageable levels. Mr. Allen and Mr. Briggs will feel happy that Mr. Clark trusts them with the added delegation of powers and responsibilities. Third, Mr. Clark should send memos or letters to all parties concerned to inform them of any changes in the current company policies. The memos and letters will remove the confusion or misunderstanding between Mr. Clark, Mr. Allen, Mr. Briggs and other affected parties. Works Cited Rees, W., Porter, C., The Skills of Management. London: Cengage Learning Press, 2008.Prin Read More